Eco-Team Sheds 18K Pounds
On a ‘Low Carbon Diet’

By Betty Edson

Inspired by a presenta-tion last fall by Wes Sanders of Interfaith Power and Light, a small group of Randolph folk decided to work together on the workbook Sanders suggested, "Low Carbon Diet, A Program to Lose 5000 Pounds in 30 Days."

The group of six—an “eco-team”—met four times. Some in the group had already worked quite a bit on how to reduce their carbon footprint, but each person moved at their own pace, in their efforts to help the environment.

The process ended up taking six months, rather than 30 days, thanks in part to the unusual win-ter Vermont experienced this year. By their con-cluding meeting, however, participants discovered that they had lost, on an average, 3000 pounds.

Although they didn’t reach the 5000-pound mark, all made some prog-ress, and expanded their awareness in the process.

Actions taken included: Bringing cloth bags to the grocery store, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, buying an energy-efficient refrigerator, installing a low-flow shower head, using cold water for laundry loads, and even a fairly major insulation of walls and attic.
Practical Steps

Here are seven ways to cut carbon use, locally:

• Recycle magazines: Recent issues (last three months) may be left at Gifford's Medical Cen-ter’s front desk; there is a magazine exchange at Floyd's in Randolph Center; and the Randolph Un-ion High School art de-partment welcomes them.

• Recycle rags: Veterinarians appreciate used towels. Greyhound rescue folks also like used tow-els, sheets, blankets and small rugs, although they cannot use wool or crocheted items; contact Rick and Susan Lee at 767-3917, 496-3659, or rsdlpg@accessvt.com.

• Recycle plastics: One can now recycle plastics from numbers 1-7 at the Randolph location!

• Test appliance effi-ciency: Kimball Library has a Kill-A-Watt gadget that one can borrow to do this testing.

• Phantom energy: This is the energy that is used by appliances, even when they are not on—the little red and green lights you see around your home, after all the lights are out! Some, such as the one on your answering machine really can't be eliminated, but one way to deal with phantom light from TV's or computers is via a surge protector, which can be turned off at night, although it should be unplugged during a lightning storm.

• Junk mail: Call the 800 number on a catalog to cut down on junk mail, or go to www.DirectMail
.com/Junk_Mail to stop the flow of unwanted mail.

• Green Cones: These use solar energy to dis-pose of food waste, in-cluding meat scraps. Contact Zero Waste Inc., PO Box 483, Hardwick Vt. 05843; 802-472-5424; or dsauer@zwinc.org. The cones may be purchased at the Barre Town Recycling Depot, 9 a.m.-noon, sec-ond Saturday of each month, through November.

• Driving: Help the environment (and the efficiency of your car) by driving 55-60, instead of 65-70. Cut carbon re-leases into the atmos-phere by not idling your car to warm it up or to do errands.

• Buy local: The more we buy local goods, the fewer trucks spewing pol-lution into the atmos-phere.

Local Groups

Eco-teams are but one of several groups in town that are finding various ways of dealing with the issue of global warming.

The Randolph Area Greening Group has been focusing on recycling and encouraging purchasing local foods; the Sustain-able Living Group has been accomplishing things in this regard for over seven years now; Water First, seeks to safeguard Vermont's groundwater re-sources; and the Town Energy Committee seeks to improve energy efficiency in our town buildings.

Another eco-team will start in the fall, and several people have al-ready signed up. Those interested in working through the workbook with a group, may call Kathy Eddy at 728-5849.
The eco-team that has just finished included Cindy Butler, Betty Ed-son, Pat and Patsy French, Susan Mills, and Wendy Ross. All would be happy to answer questions people might have.